What ever happen to quality? There is tons and tons of junk out there The neighbor wants the furniture fixed...but it is damaged veneer and junk wood underlay. She was told it was real solid wood and paid the price,.... ten years ago. Real wood furniture last generations of life times if care is given to the wood.

How many time I have been told it is prime materials, tools, and etc only to find out it is junk. Cheap materials been used. I can count thousands, including a few cars I have owned. Complain to manufacturer these days takes about ten phone calls, and there are only a few that are honorable and replace the item.

Construction companies here in the islands are worthless.... they have to go fast and cut corners, slap the thing together and go to the next job. Ha,...ha they past inspection, but the job is worthless. You can go into a million dollar house and kick the wall.... and it will break, then you go shake that plastic fence that will dissolve from UV rays in a few years...one kick and no more fence. Where is the pride in work well done?

Dad is screaming from the heavens.... "If you want work done right then you have to do it yourself!" Yes dad I hear you.

We live in a throw away society, one year warranty....what does that mean???? One year it will die and you will have to go buy a new one. Call the manufacturer.....if they replace it you can kiss the heavens. But companies more often then not are not honorable. Got a few so called top dog tools....found out the owner got them from China and had the darn things stamped in his name. Of coarse he still lies that they are not from China.... when people get on the forum and scream about his products falling apart. He has no honor and no respect for any of us that need good tools.

I want a good pruner, one that last a lifetime and cut easily 3/4 branch. Yes there is one out there, but I have to order from Japan....sucker is sharp like a samurai sword. What ever happen to quality goods from the US?

I got a mini bench grinder from China....it was just what I needed...thing lasted me three days and it crashed down the toilet.... to expensive to send back.

I am doing major repairs to the house.....it is darn hard to find good materials these days. An as dad continues to scream from the grave, I hear you dad, if I want it done right ....then I have to do it my self

First, please know that I know nothing about politics or economics - these are just comments from the peanut gallery from a hermit in the woods.

The first thing that comes to mind for me is when I first heard the term "One World Economy". I had no idea what that meant when I heard it or what the implications were. It seems that this term had opened up imports from other countries where the cost of labor was well under ours in the US.

Then I see this trend over the years of all these companies having their products built in other countries. I guess the reason was the either be more competitive with selling prices and/or making a better profit. With that the quality of everything seemed to go way down.

This has gone on to the point now that we seem to live in a disposable society. The quality of all these items are sub-par of what they used to be. Plus, now instead of getting things repaired, they are just thrown out and a new one bought.

When was the last time you saw a TV repair shop? A shoe repair shop?

I don't understand all this. How is this disposable society better than the way it used to be? It has gotten to a point where you can hardly find a well made tool or piece of equipment anywhere. I've always been the one to buy the better tool/machine which would have replaceable parts and last just about forever.

I read something on the interweb a while ago that kind of got my attention. It talked of what would happen if we just closed our boarders. No more imports or exports. In my feeble mind this would bring things back to the way it used to be. It would probably be a tough transition being so many of our manufacturing has been sent overseas, but wouldn't something like this solve the problem?

I think in some ways this is what me may be facing. We bought a simple greenhouse a few years ago. Next year covering started falling apart, we went to buy new cover. It was a little smaller, we asked and were told most people just buy whole new greenhouse. Well why do you sell cover seperate then, ugh. They also said sun rots cover, its a greenhouse? So we put a cover over roof and this fall were building our own.
We dont have shoe repair, tv repair, things fall apart and we are expected to buy new. I think the people who fix or modify what they have will have an advantage, when tshtf, even if its a small advantage.

It is harder to find good stuff now-a-days....tools, lumber, clothes, whatever...

I have a lot of good hand tools from my dad, they will last for generations. I buy top stuff for major tools and have had them for 25 plus years...not sure if the same stuff now is as good as the quality back than???

I am also guilty of buying from Harbor Freight. I am surprised to say that I have had amazing results with all of their stuff...I bought an electric 1/2 in impact wrench and have used the heck out of it for 15 years and it is fantastic...one of the best $30 purchases I have ever made, same for their angle grinders. One job I needed a 3 and a half inch socket...for one nut...no way was I going to pay up for a big name socket...I went to Harbor and used a coupon and picked up a 1 inch drive set with 18 sockets, ratchet, breaker bar, two extensions and a really good case for $35 and a lifetime warranty...I have used that more than I ever thought I would and it is great, I have even put on a 4 foot cheater bar and not bent/broke any of it...granted the ratchet is not smooth like a high end item...but that doesn't matter for my needs.

The big thing that surprises me though...are new homes...most of the builders build crap...and minimum code does not hold up well from what I have seen and builders rarely do an adequate job of building structure correctly...but that granite count sure is pretty...til the roof leaks.

Very true indeed! A few quality tools and other products still exist, but most people are not willing to pay the extra they cost.

I can remember having shoes that were quality and the upper leather outlasted two and sometimes three resoling jobs at the shoe shop. A lot of old quality shoe names have disappeared because of the cheaper imports. Some of those former quality name brand shoes like many other former quality brands are now producing inferior products themselves. A brand of casual shoes I have been buying on and off for the past 8 - 10 years would normally last me 12 - 15 months, sometime eighteen months. I purchased two pair last June (2014). Both pair did not make it a full thirty days. A bad run, or further reduction in their already inferior quality, I don't know, but one thing is for certain, I will not be purchasing that brand ever again.

I dislike anything made in China, and avoid it when I can, but unfortunately tons and tons of Chinese made junk is imported into this country for sale each and every day. I also avoid China-Mart like the plague, since it is the largest importer and seller of Chinese made junk! Unfortunately I do have a fair amount of Chinese junk myself, since it all cannot be avoided.

A few years back the wife and I were at a local sporting goods outdoor sales event and a knife kiosk had a banner across the front of their display proudly proclaiming all of their items for sale were made in the USA. I walked up and picked up a small pocked knife of a major American knife brand and opened the large blade to see "China" prominently stamped in the tang. I turned it so the wife could see and made the statement, "I don't guess they read their own sign." The lady at the booth asked what I was talking about and I turned the knife where she could read the tang herself. I don't think she wanted to be shown or told that her products were not all of USA production. She did not feign surprise or even act apologetic for have a "China made" knife on the table. I was in the market for a new knife, but after this interaction, I did not look any further.

Much of the newer Chinese made junk no longer has "China" stamped or molded into the product, but rather has a small gummed tag affixed to the product which states "Made in China." So if no country of origin is stamped or molded into a product, you can just about bet your bottom dollar it was made in China.

I miss the day of USA made quality products, but Eisenhower and his plan to provide everyone a job and keep everyone working with "Manufactured Obsolescence" was the beginning of the end for quality in this country.

The scary thing to me...is that China tooling has gotten a lot better. My cousin is a tool and die engineer and they do all kinds of stress tests and tolerance testing...they bring in stuff from home to 'play' with on the machines. He states that the quality of 'a lot' of China alloy has dramatically improved over the past 15 to 20 years...Still not at the level of what our Father's used to get in America.

There are good products out there from a lot of places...finding them...well...

One of the best deals I know of is Mora Knives...for 20 bux you can get a great knife that you can have a lifetime or until you lose it. Mora is out of Sweden.

TV repair shops are very hard to find.
There was a shoe repair shop but the guy retired and there wasn't anyone to take over.
You want something hard to find?
Try finding a clock repair shop.
Years ago I bought my wife a very expensive mantle clock.
It started to run slow after a lot of years.
I just happened to see a van in a parking lot that advertised his clock repair business.
It wasn't cheap but he did a fantastic job and my wife was very happy.